Instruments

The Contraforte uses a double reed, like the bassoon and contrabassoon to create its sound. This creates a reedy quality to the tone, especially at heavier dynamics. This is a newly conceived instrument which was originally produced to improve upon the shortcomings of the contrabassoon. It combines the character of the low woodwinds with the lyric voice of the cello. Contraforte is an octave displaced instrument, so the sounding pitch is an octave below written.